2003: a photographic diary
Again, no annual update for friends and family this year. It's hard to
remember why, but perhaps it felt as if we were chugging along at a regular pace
with not a lot new to say. We don't want to bore our friends and family with the
same old blah blah blah! Plus, we had a family portrait taken in December and
sent that in our Holiday cards. The photo is here.
So we'll run though this year with a collection of photos of what was
happening and where we went.
First, soccer was happening throughout the year,
and here are Charlie and Alban with their trophies from the indoor season that
started the year. There's a whole page of pictures of
2003's soccer!
Our first major trip of the year was to Vancouver
BC, where Ian's boyhood friend David Sandles, another expatriate Brit, was
turning 50. We explored Vancouver,
which is a beautiful and fascinating city, bicycled through Stanley Park, and
drove up to Whistler for a day's skiing. A few months after the visit, Whistler
was selected to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.
On the right is a surprisingly fragile looking
pedestrian suspension bridge that we visited.
Charlie can be seen peeking through between Daphné and
Ian.
Back home, below left is our breakfast nook,
dressed up for Saint Valentine's Day.
Below left again is a car that Tom designed and built, with a little help from his
brother Nick, for a school project.
The big change in the year was in Ian's work,
but it was a change that had repercussions in the family as well, because it
involved his commuting to Southern California every week and back home every
weekend.
At the end of June, he became VP and General Counsel to a newly-public
company, and moved into an apartment in Irvine for the working week. The
apartment, in a complex called Villa Siena, was a delight, and over the course
of the year hosted several weekend visits from various groups of family members.
On the right is a panoramic shot of Villa Siena's central swimming pool (the
complex had other pools: the Irvine Company does not do things by halves!), with
Alex paddling and Charlie and papa watching. Between the pools, jacuzzis and the
Club, with its pool table and big screen TV, there was something for everyone.
Irvine also has the distinct advantage of being less than 20 minutes from
Disneyland in Anaheim! Below left are Daphné
and Alex on a fall evening at Disney.
Summer vacation was spent, no surprise here, between La
Grée in Brittany and Marlow
in Britain. We all flew from San Francisco, the big kids to Paris to visit their
respective other parents, and the parents with the
little guys to London. Below
is a shot of Nick, Tom and Charlie
inside the Hummer limo that took us to San Francisco Airport. This was cool!
Check out the reflective ceiling!
The year had other highlights: Courtney Bolin and Antony Nash finally
tied the knot, after many years
thinking about doing so.
We finally sold the GMC Suburban that had carried the eight of us and luggage
with relative ease, but which did eat gas with reckless abandon.
Marie-Hélène's
car became a Volvo V70 wagon. It could carry seven, including two little ones in
a rear-facing seat in the trunk, but with a five cylinder engine used a lot less
gas.
Alex started at Happy Valley School on the day
before Charlie's birthday, and began violin lessons soon after.
Maman finally had a little free time, before shuttling
her charges from soccer practice to
soccer practice.
Finally, a cute little gesture: the children filmed themselves in the mirror
signing good wishes to their dad on father's day. This
still photo is taken from the video camera. Thanks!!
Here is is our carousel of time, and here are
other annual updates:
1994, 1995,
1996,
1997, 1998,
1999,
2000,
2001, 2002,
2004, 2005,
2006,
2007
